Ephesus March 2011 3666.jpg

A basilica from 160 AD with apse where guests and clients were received by the owner and the house. The lower parts of the walls show traces of marble decor, the upper parts were decorated with frescoes. Fropm Enc. Britt.: One type of smaller secular basilica had side aisles extending the length of the sides only and an apse at one end. It was this type that the early Christians adopted for their churches, possibly because similar halls in large private houses had been used for Christian worship before the religion was officially recognized by the Roman emperor Constantine in 313.